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Elvis Costello wants to be taken seriously, and Elvis Costello takes himself seriously. Unfortunately, if he keeps on putting out albums like King of America, he'll be the only one taking himself seriously.
King of America is an album with ambition written all over it. The arrangements are generally acoustic and attempt to remove the overproduction that clouded his last effort, Goodbye Cruel World. The lyrics, as always, are breathtakingly elaborate and complex. Whereas Costello's past efforts have been entertaining and thought-provoking, however, this one is pretentious, leaden, and humorless.
In previous efforts, Costello's true talent lay in his ability to contrast a clever sense of humor with biting social commentary. Imaginative uses of horn arrangements and complex accompaniments allowed Costello's sometimes depressing lyrics to be more palatable. Now, there is nothing to cloak the grim nature of the songs.
After I stopped listening to King of America, I wasn't thinking so much about kings as I was thinking about emperors. In particular, I was thinking about the Emperor's New Clothes. And, as we see Costello without all protections of intricate musical backings, we get the impression that there might not be that much there as originally thought. Maybe Costello the Emperor doesn't have any clothes.
The album begins promisingly with "Brilliant Mistake" which appears to be Costello's outcry to his audience which has deserted him. "I was a fine idea at the time," he laments, "Now I'm a brilliant mistake." Although self-indulgent, the song is clever and contains a bunch of typically quotable Costello lyrics, such as: "She said that she was working for the ABC News / It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use."
Soon, after a bouncy little ditty called "Lovable," the album begins to falter. An insufferable version of the Animals' classic "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is highlighted by Costello's nasal braying and moaning. In the context of the album, this song almost seems like an apology for all of the self-indulgence which abounds.
"Little Palaces," is another prime example of what Costello's voice sounds like unadulterated. This song is another one of his denunciations of Mother England. In certain sections of the song, I tried adjusting the treble controls because it sounded much too tinny. But, it wasn't the stereo's fault; it was Costello's. This entire song is sung through his nose. In certain sections, Elvis tries to accentuate the anger of the song by screaming into the microphone. At first, his scream seems like a genuine sense of anger coming across, but soon it becomes a self parody.
Then, Costello sings "I'll Wear it Proudly," where he martyrs himself as the King of Fools. It seems as though Costello wants us to feel sorry for him as he sings, "Well I finally found someone to turn me upside down and nail my feet up where my head should be. If they had a King of Fools then I could wear that crown and you can all die laughing 'cause I'll wear it proudly."
Side two is a complete mess. We begin with "American Without Tears," which steals its melody from Elvis' much better effort, "Peace in Our Time." The song, about a Brit living in America, gets completely bogged down in its lyrical intricacies. Once in a while, Costello appears to be trying to show us how smart he is. A casual rhyming of "impresarios" and "nylon hose" is clever, but empty.
On "Jack of All Parades," Elvis finally gets himself together musically. There is a catchy chorus and several imaginative musical interludes which bring to mind the work of John Lennon. The lyrics are so obscure that the song becomes just a pile of mumbo jumbo. What the hell is somebody supposed to make of "Oh you know you do but from my chequered past to this shattered terrace where you can't keep your mind off the Crimes of Paris..." The song is hardly grammatically coherent, let alone comprehensible.
The theme of martyrdom is continued in the endless "Suit of Lights," which bemoans the fate of its hero who was "pulled out of the cold cold ground" and "put into a suit of lights." Once again we observe the activities of the cold public who delight in public executions.
At long last, King of America ends with the ambiguous "Sleep of the Just." The song constantly changes its focus and introduces a few more Christ symbols for the listener to pick at. What he is talking about is difficult to fathom, and because the song is so constipated in its presentation, it is also difficult to care.
The pleasures derived from listening to King of America are few: clever turns of phrases here, a catchy chorus there, and a pleasant musical interlude. Most of the album, however, is chore to listen to.
Something more disturbing lingers long after you've taken the needle off this record. The self-deification that pervades the album is rather offensive. Closely looking over the album's lyrics, it looks as if Costello perceives himself to be some fount of moral wisdom betrayed and ignored by an inappreciative public.
In "Brilliant Mistake," he talks of his desertion as the public passing him off for nothing more than a "brilliant mistake." "I'll Wear it Proudly" shows Elvis crucified as the king of fools. "Jack of All Parades" laments the fact that once Elvis was "everybody's boy, but soon the thrill just fades." And, the tale of a surrealistic martyring by an evil public in "Suit of Lights," continues this theme which shows up obtrusively in these aforementioned songs and rather subtly in others.
Well, maybe Elvis doesn't see himself as a Christ figure, but this sense of suffering and betrayal which enters into almost every song certainly can't be taken for granted. It's annoying and presumptuous and serves to alienate the listener.
King of America is worth purchasing only as a curiosity, an opportunity to see an excellent artist declining into the depths of self-pity. It's not a pretty sight, and really wouldn't recommend buying it, even for the tidy sum of 25 pieces of silver.
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